That’s One Chintzy Trophy: The Golden Globe!

In my professional wanderings, I have been lucky enough to hold in my hot little hands an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe. Oscar is an impressive, solid piece of hardware (8 1/2 pounds). Emmy is a delicately timeless statuette (nearly 7 pounds).

The Golden Globe is a tad less impressive than the “Participation” trophy you got at your sixth grade Field Day. In a way, that reflects the lightweight nature of the award itself (roughly 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association vote, a fact that at one time led to the suspicion that it was not just possible, but necessary to buy one).

It was at the modest Hollywood home of Ed Asner that I encountered my first Golden Globe. Asner, one of the sweetest men you’ll ever meet, has won so many Golden Globes (5) that he had a couple of them stashed behind his TV. He asked me to fish them out from there so we could include them in a video shoot about his movie Up.

The ball atop the Golden Globe trophy is held in place by a long bolt that extends from the bottom of the base, and Asner’s had worked their way loose, so they rattled around.

In box office and ratings points, they say the Golden Globe is worth its weight in gold. I’d say it had better be worth more than that.